A mint WWII Walther AC 42 P-38 Pistol with an extremely early serial number and plum colored frame

[rambob]

Here is another centerpiece of my WWII pistol collection that I bought many years ago from a collector who was liquidating his collection. It is a mint, AC-42 Walther P-38 pistol, with a plum colored frame. The serial number is 453 without a letter suffix which, means it was the 453rd pistol produced by Walther in 1942. It is early enough in the production that all of the smaller parts all have the E/359 acceptance stamps on them. I do not have a matching magazine for the pistol, but I do have two correct serial numbered mags for it.

[Doggert Dog]

Nice P-38

[lithgow]

Top notch example.

[talltom]

very nice example good buy

tom

[battle gear]

does it have a importer's stamp? lots of these were imported from Russia / Ukraine back in 1993

is this a WWII GI bring back?

[rambob]

Battle gear, Definitely no import marks. I would say a vet bring back, but absolutely no hint of any wear on it, holster or otherwise.

[lithgow]

Never saw any active service but then the best examples never do.

[rambob]

Everyone, before someone notices and gets too excited, the lanyard that you see in the one picture with the holster is NOT original, German WWII manufacture. It is something I made myself out of leather. I am a pretty good leather worker as a hobby and a long time ago I saw a bad photograph of a WWII P-38 lanyard in a book. You know the web lanyards you see for sale on EBay occassionally. So I decided to replicate it, but did not realize that the lanyard was made out of web, not leather. I also did not know that the fitting in the middle of the lanyard was not a buckle, but a ring on the original. So the result is what you see and even though a fantasy item, I think it still looks great with the pistol.

[big ned]

Here is an interesting explanation about what caused the blueing of some of these weapons to become 'plum coloured'. I quote it directly from 'Die Selbstladepistole Parabellum'.

The subject of the "plum color" has been a good subject for many years and the reason is quality control.
The real reason this plum color happens is that the bluing solution is set to a certain temperature, with a
certain concentration of bluing salts, and a certain type steel and steel hardness. If any of these variables
change, there will be changes in the bluing color. What happened on Lugers and P.38s that exhibit the
plum color is due to the "work hardening" of the steel during the manufacturing process. A piece of steel
when machined, should maintain a certain speed and feed for the cutter, which do not overheat the piece
of steel being machined.

During the war, the machine operators were trying to produce the parts as fast as possible, and still make
sure they passed inspection. If you will look at a P.38 frame near the rails, the machining marks normally
are very evident, and you may see the plum color there, and not on the lower half of the frame. When fast
feed rates are used in cutting the metal, and you have a coolant flow on the steel, it will do what is called
"work harden". This is the same as if it were heat treated. This change in hardness of the steel will not blue
the same as the rest of the steel that is not as hard. In a manufacturing operation for wartime, this would not
be reason enough to make changes in the time, temperature, and salt concentration for the bluing bath, so
they set these parameters for a "middle of the road" approach to bluing.

The protection to the steel is almost as good as a high quality blue, so the pistol passes all inspections. As
with any waring country, even the US, the quality of finish deteriorated as the war progressed.

Regards, Ned.